KENNETH D. SHOESMITH (1890-1939) CUNARD LINE / EUROPE - AMERICA / [AQUITANIA.] Circa 1925. 39x24 inches, 99x61 cm. Thomas Forman & Sons, Nottingham. Condition A-: minor restoration along vertical and horizontal folds and over small abrasions in margins and image; very slight discoloration in image; repaired pin holes in corners. The Aquitania is seen in the gap between two tall New York City buildings, being pulled out of New York harbor by a host of tugboats. Comparing the length of ocean liners to the height of skyscrapers became a common graphic conceit after the Empire State Building was completed in 1931, but here Shoesmith makes that same kind of comparison by utilizing a creative vantage point. He cleverly unifies the dark foreground with the lighter background via the curl of smoke wafting up from the tugboat. The smoke then echoes the steam emanating from the liner's four funnels and mingles with the poster's title. "One of the differences between the Aquitania and the Lusitania and the Mauretania was that she had one more passenger deck . . . [she] could carry a thousand passengers more than the earlier-built sister ships" (Passenger Ships p. 67). Passenger Ships 40, Weallans p. 96.
![KENNETH D. SHOESMITH (1890-1939). CUNARD LINE / EUROPE - AMERICA / [AQUITANIA.] Circa 1925. 39x24 inches, 99x61 cm. Thomas Forman & Son](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//941\750941.jpg)
